Will Virtual Reality Cause Motion Sickness?

There is no simple answer to this question because frankly, your experience will depend on how your own body reacts to being in the virtual reality world. As of yet, there are no official studies to determine just how many people are affected by VR sickness but early guesses put the number to be around 20% of those who try VR, with women being the most susceptible. VR motion sickness happens when your eyes tell your brain that you are moving around, but your body is remaining still. If VR motion sickness is something you have experienced, or something you are worried about experiencing, there are several ways to mitigate any of the unwanted feelings like nausea and dizziness.

Tips for Avoiding VR Motion Sickness

1. Eat Ginger Beforehand

Ginger is commonly known to suppress early onset feelings of nausea. It is recommended by several VR experts to take 1-2 hours ahead of your planned gameplay. You can try pickled ginger (the kind that comes with your sushi), or try your hand at taking a ginger supplement.

2. Try Small Doses of VR

It's okay if you haven't quite got a hold of your "VR legs" early on. Start by playing games or looking at experiences in small doses so that your brain and body can slowly get accustomed to the out of body experience you can have while moving around in a virtual world. It's likely that some games will work better for you than others, so try a few out for a few minutes at a time each and see what fits best.

3. Sit Down

When you first step into the VR world, your brain may become a bit overwhelmed. Combined with the complexity of allowing your body to become accustom to the VR world moving around you, it may overload your senses and bring on a sick feeling. By providing a chair or another seated option for VR guests to use at your event, you can alleviate the feelings of VR sickness for your guests.

Once you think you are ready to get up from a seated position in VR, you may want to start with something simple like the Google Tiltbrush or similar program where the user has full control of the environment, it also helps that the environment itself can be considered relatively static.

4. Don't Play Tired or With an Ear Infection

Motion sickness appears to have ties to inner-ear perceptoon, so it's never a good idea to play VR when your ears aren't at their healthiest. If you have any condition that effects your ears, (like a cold) you might experience discomfort from VR. Tiredness is another way to increase risk of simulation sickness.

5. Restart if the Game is having Performance Issues

If you notice a game you're playing is glitching or dropping frames consistently, stop playing and restart. Do not attempt to play until it is running smoothly. Framerate seems tied to VR simulation sickness, so playing at anything short of optimal conditions is a bad idea. Dropping out of a game and restarting is definitely preferable to creating a situation that might make you sick.

6. Ensure the Headset Fits Properly

Take the proper steps to ensure that your headset of choice is fitting properly by tightening the wheels on the sides and back to secure a tight fit. Having an ill fitted headset or a headset that is not properly aligned in your view can be cause for your eyes and body feeling disassociated.